Tuesday, November 27, 2012

Set Apart for a Purpose (Part 1)

"What's my purpose?" "Why was I put on this planet?" "Will I ever know what I was put here to do?" Questions like these are normal for most people, particularly if they feel like a lonely asteroid floating in space. With so many distractions, voices, and messages swirling around us, it can become difficult to actually get any sense of clarity about purpose in life. Add to the mix a barrage of images and messages imprinted on our minds through popular culture and it can become even more difficult to wade through the mire of confusion. Getting back to a foundational principle of life is essential to even attempting to locate your purpose and it starts with a simple message from God found in the Word of God, specifically Jeremiah 1:5, "I knew you before I formed you in your mother's womb. Before you were born I set you apart and appointed you..." The author of this prophetic book in the Bible was recording God's words to him about his destiny, but the same applies to all of us. Before we were even formed in our mothers' wombs, we were known and loved by God. Not only that, but He set us apart and appointed each of us to fulfill a particular destiny and purpose on this earth. If you're not sure what that particular purpose is, the starting point is knowing this: you were known and you were appointed. Get that in your consciousness.

The other profoundly telling scripture that speaks volumes to the detail, intricacy, and thought that was put into your existence and future is found in Psalm 139:13-16:

"You made all the delicate, inner parts of my body and knit me together in my mother's womb. Thank you for making me so wonderfully complex! Your workmanship is marvelous and how well I know it. You watched me as I was being formed in utter seclusion, as I was woven together in the dark of the womb. You saw me before I was born. Every day of my life was recorded in your book. Every moment was laid out before a single day had passed."

I love this passage for so many reasons. Not only the detail that clearly was involved with the formation of the human body and the creative genius behind that, but also the last two verses of the passage, "Every day of my life was recorded in your book. Every moment was laid out before a single day had passed." As if the making of all the "delicate inner parts," being "knit together in my mother's womb" and growing under the watchful eye of God in the utter seclusion and darkness of an amniotic environment wasn't enough, but my future, my life, my destiny, every moment of that journey, was recorded before I even came into existence. Mind blowing? Yes. If this doesn't speak of divine purpose, I don't know what does.

If you ever had any doubt about whether you have a purpose, the answer to your question is a resounding YES! You do! There's no one like you, no one that has your exact gifts, talents, and personality. There may be others that have similarities, but you are a limited edition creation of God that was formed and fashioned with a specific purpose in mind. You were known before the womb, in the womb, and at this very present moment. Kill the doubts and accept that you were not randomly or arbitrarily put on this planet. Everything about you was specifically designed for a reason and God is committed to assisting you on your journey to discovering it. More to come in Part 2 of this blog series....